Publisher DTP Crew

This is one of many short video segments which will be added to the Digital Tipping Point (DTP) archive. This interview features Sean Shah, a software developer for Eye.fi, a company that makes software and hardware which lets people share photographs wirelessly from their camera. Eye.fi has an office at CitizenSpace, a collaboration work space located at 425 2nd Street in San Francisco. It is an open work space which in many ways embodies the collaborative spaces in which Free Open Source Software is created and distributed. The DTP crew are following the story of CitizenSpace merely because it is a physical metaphor for the collaboration that happens in the virtual world of cyberspace.

Sean starts off telling us a bit about his company and its products. Free Open Source Software provides some of the tools that lets Eye.fi make it easier for its customers to share photographs. Sean gives details.

Sean explains that Free Open Source Software is a bit like CitizenSpace, in that it is a coming-together of people working for the common good. It is not strictly each person out to maximize their own interests, although by helping each other, people help themselves. Sean came to this event to become more well-acquainted with some of the people with whom he will be sharing space. Meeting them will make his work life more enjoyable, and it will help him do his job better by improving his networking. That's how it is with collaboration in Free Open Source Software, too.

He says that Free Open Source Software is important, because it helps companies like his company provide better products. Having lots and lots of developers' eyes on the code means that his small company is able to get better code faster, which improves the experience his customers have with his company's products.

CitizenSpace is not just about the one person who owns the space and leases out desks, its about the people who come in the doors every day.

He doesn't think that Free Open Source Software will ever reach a position of more than 51% dominance on the desktop, because it takes companies like Apple to make that software easy for the end user to use. But Free Open Source Software is still important, because it influences proprietary software and makes it better. He gives an example of how Apple uses Sendmail to make its software better for its customers. He thinks that Free Open Source Software will stay behind the scenese like that, making proprietary software better for everyone.

This footage is our raw rough-cut footage. It lacks transitions, music, special effectsor finish rendering. It is our "source code". Please feel free to rip, mix and burn this footage consistent with our Creative Commons license as disclosed on this page.

If you like this segment, please consider typing up a summary for it and emailing that summary to Christian Einfeldt at einfeldt@gmail.com. Your work will be credited and posted on this page.

The DTP will be many, many films created by the global open source video community about how open source is changing their lives. We, the DTP crew, are submitting this footage for anyone to rip, mix, and burn under the Creative Commons Attribute - ShareAlike license. We welcome edits, transcriptions, graphics, music, and animation contributions to the film. Please send a link for any contributions to Christian Einfeldt at einfeldt@gmail.com.

Or, if you would like to contribute by directly transcribing this particular video segment, you can do so by going here:

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and typing the audio as you hear it into the wiki. Please be sure to add the transcription for this segment under: Segment 004, Sean Shah
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Contact Information Christian Einfeldt, einfeldt at g mail dot com